Holy Permission

Greetings,

See if you can identify with this sequence of events:

1-     You have a need/concern.

2-     You pray.

3-     By faith, you believe God has heard you.

4-     You trust that He is coming up with a plan of action.

5-     God implements the plan!

Sometimes, however, or maybe most of the time, it seems we live stuck between numbers four and five. What are we thinking on those days or even weeks or months when we are still waiting for an answer?

Maybe we give up – doubting God?  Or maybe we don’t want to keep bothering Him with the same thing over and over again?

This is where having the Bible comes in handy.

Then Jesus said, “Imagine what would happen if you went to a friend in the middle of the night and said, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread. An old friend traveling through just showed up, and I don’t have a thing on hand.’ “The friend answers from his bed, ‘Don’t bother me. The door’s locked; my children are all down for the night; I can’t get up to give you anything.’ “But let me tell you, even if he won’t get up because he’s a friend, if you stand your ground, knocking and waking all the neighbors, he’ll finally get up and get you whatever you need. “Here’s what I’m saying: Ask and you’ll get; Seek and you’ll find; Knock and the door will open” (Luke 11:5-10).

These verses give us holy permission to keep on knocking until we receive an answer. We must never give up just because our timeline differs from God's. He wants us to keep on asking, seeking, and knocking because He knows the answer is worth the wait!

PRAYER:

Dear Lord, You will always come through for us; we must never give up. Thank You that You have made it clear in Your Word that You want us to be persistent with our prayers. We take You up on that invitation and ask You to bless us today. In Jesus' name, AMEN~

God Never Declines an Invitation

Greetings,

As you may or may not know, I am currently learning French via an app on my phone.  This has been going on for almost three years, and I am ever so slowly but surely making progress.  One of the things I love about studying this romantic language is seeing how some of its words have infiltrated our American culture.  RSVP, for example, stands for rèpondez s’il vous plait, which means please respond. 

I am sure each of us has, at some time or another, issued invitations and then waited for folks to respond.  Sometimes people say “yes,” and sometimes people say “no.” And we respond to invitations the same way; sometimes we can go and sometimes we can’t. A couple of years ago, Jorge and I were invited to a wedding that was on the same day as our 30^th wedding anniversary.  We had already made plans and had to politely decline. 

Oh, but do I have some great news: GOD NEVER DECLINES AN INVITATION!

Matthew 7:7 “Ask and keep on asking and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking and you will find; knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you.”

In other words, every single time you invite God into your situation, answers are given, solutions are found, and door are opened.  I would feel a lot differently if this verse said, “Ask, and keep on asking, and I, the Lord your God, will get around to helping you at some point but not right now.” Or, “Seek and keep on seeking, but I am busy right now so who knows when you will, if ever, find what you need.” Or, “Knock all you want.  I don’t feel like getting out of bed this morning;I have a bigger better party to attend to and can’t deal with you right now.”

How much better would your life be if every single time you prayed and asked God to show up, you accepted as fact that He did and always will? That You never ever have to include a “please RSVP” because He only has one response? His response is simply that He responds.

Psalm 120:1 I cried to the LORD in my distress, and He responded to me.”

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Thank You that You always respond. And if we have to wait for a situation to improve or change because You know the best timing, we know that in the meantime, Your answers to us are always filled with peace and assurances that once we seek You, You’re are in control. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.

Open the Door

Revelation  3:20 "Listen! I am standing at the door and knocking!  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come into his home and share a meal with him, and he with Me."

Greetings,

Over the years I have watched plenty of interviews where they ask this question: If you could have dinner with any famous person who would it be and why?

Oprah seems to be a popular answer, and I am sure if I could spend some time with her  over vaca frita, congris, and mariquitas smothered in garlic, it would make for quite an interesting meal!

Somehow, however, I don't think she would accept my invitation. 

But there is Someone immensely more loving, gracious, powerful, awesome, and merciful Who wants to share a meal with us.  And He does not require an invitation because He is already knocking on the door.

Can You hear Him?

"Open the door, all you who carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28)

"Open the door, and I will give you peace at all times and in every situation." (2 Thessalonians 3:16)

"Open the door, and I will watch over your life." (Psalm 121:7)

Let's open the door right now and invite the Lord into our homes.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, give us ears to hear Your voice.  Some of us have ignored You,  and yet You keep on knocking because You long to make our lives better.  We open the door to You right now and are thankful for  the blessings You bring.   In Jesus' name, AMEN!

He is Worth Getting to Know~

Matthew 7:7 “"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

The first time I ever invited my now son-in-law, Emilio, to dinner, I made NY Strip Steaks.  The recipe is easy.  Punch them full of holes with a fork, pour A-1 all over, and broil in the oven four minutes each side.  This will create that melt-in-your-mouth on the inside but charred-on-the-outside crunch that we talked about in last Thursday’s DEVO.

The insides of these steaks were blood-red and screaming, “MOO!” As we sat down to eat, our mouths were watering, and we were in culinary heaven – most of us anyway.  For you see, Emilio, like my former self, preferred his meat more-cooked – a lot more.  Of course, God bless his heart, he did not say anything and started eating his steak.  In an ironic twist I gave him the most rarest steak of all, and I recall how Rachel, Jorge, and I were all commenting on how “perfectly cooked” his steak looked.  I was so proud of myself for having given him what was clearly the best steak, and then the circular motion began.

I noticed after a few minutes that Emilio was cutting into his steak in such a way that he was shaping it like a circle.  I asked him if everything was okay, and he assured me everything was.  Maybe that was how he was taught to cut steak.  What do I know?  It finally occurred to me, when the steak was the size of a quarter and nothing but a bright red disc, that he was forcing himself to eat it.  I honestly felt bad, especially when we all finished before he did and were just staring at him laboriously chewing those last few bites.  To his eternal credit he ate the whole thing—all 12 oz of it.

Fast forward two years and now Emilio regularly enjoys eating his steaks at a nice medium rare.  Why? He discovered that it actually tastes good.  His introduction to eating this way was a little awkward but something about it impressed him enough to continue on.  And to think -- he might have missed out if he wouldn't have taken a chance!

Sometimes this is the way it goes in our relationship with God.  We start off slow, not sure of what it will be like.  Will He hear me? Will He answer me? Will He help me? Is it worth it to keep on going?  Does He care? But if we hang in there, if we persist, if we take a step of faith, next thing we know we will realize what an awesome, amazing, beautiful, loving, prayer-answering, mighty God we serve! We will be given answers to prayers.  We will find that He has an inexhaustible supply of every single thing we will ever need, and the door to life will be opened to us! Most importantly, we will never go back to the way things were. 

PRAYER: Dear Lord, You are worth getting to know.  You are worth our persistence.  You are the best thing that could ever happen to us, and we thank You that when we ask, seek, and knock, we receive, we find, and the doors open wide to bless us.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN~